Chapter 17, How Abu Hasan Broke Wind Summary

In the City of Kaukaban of Al-Yaman, Abu Hasan holds a great wedding reception, and in front of his guests and bride, he makes a terrible noise; he breaks wind. Embarrassed, he leaves the reception and boards a ship to India where he hides, living as the head bodyguard of the local king for ten years. Missing home, he travels back in disguise and overhears a mother tell her child that she was born on the night that Abu Hasan passed gas. The man returns to India and lives in self-exile for the remainder of his days.

Chapter 17, How Abu Hasan Broke Wind Analysis

What this story offers is a phenomenon called an historical marker. This is a social reference point in time. Every generation has these events that measure time - though...